Hand held tamper tools have long been used to compact and tamp down stone, asphalt, concrete pavers, soil, and other types of ground surfaces. Many common manually operated tampers, however, do not have the requisite heft to efficiently and effectively accomplish many types of tamping operations. Other tampers are not easily portable or are cumbersome to use. Motorized or hydraulically operated tampers are available, but these have many operating parts which are subject to breakage. In addition, given the number of parts, such tools are unduly heavy. They are also expensive to purchase and maintain.